– There is still moderate optimism in the business community, but there is a greater sense of nervousness than before. Everyone expects a soft landing. However, experience tells us that those who made good plans in good years have a great chance of navigating through turbulence such as inflation and recession more easily – said Miodrag Šajatović, editor-in-chief of Lider, in the opening part of the 15th consecutive Lider Conference Day of Great Plans, in front of an unprecedentedly large audience in the Crystal Hall of the Westin Hotel in Zagreb.
– After a decade and a half, I dare say that the Day of Great Plans has become the most important annual business conference in Croatia. This gathering has an unchanging goal. At a time when business plans for the next year are being made, we have done everything we could to bring you political, macroeconomic, and business topics today. I hope you will leave with at least four or five signals that will help you in planning the next business year – added Šajatović.
The Day of Great Plans is an opportunity for all of us to openly say in which direction we need to go and what our expectations are, emphasized Mihael Furjan, CEO of Pliva and president of the Croatian Employers’ Association, a partner of the conference.
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– I think the key problem in the Croatian economy is how to raise competitiveness. For that, we need to increase productivity, and for that, we need people. The challenge is how to retain people, how to give them higher salaries, and employers are raising salaries. In July, the increase in gross wages was higher than the increase in net wages, the tax wedge on income increased, and HUP is a strong advocate for tax relief on labor, and we hope that Croatia will move in that direction. We hope that net wages in Croatia will also grow. We believe this is necessary to retain talent, to ease the burden of labor taxation, as other types of income are taxed less – said Furjan.
